A Wall

A Wall is an interactive microsite, exhibiting six socio-ecologically-engaged artworks from the last twenty years, by leading, contemporary artists from Greater China. As an artist who engages with socially-engaged practice, Zheng Bo developed this online archive in order to document the increasing number of artists in Greater China working in this way. It features archival images, videos, texts and interviews with the artists, upon which viewers are invited to post comments. A Wall’s interactive design reflects Beijing’s Democracy Wall in the late 1970s, following the collapse of the Cultural Revolution. This was a physical wall where people posted ideas, news and comments on Chinese dàzìbào (huge, hand-written posters). It was a key platform for cultural expression and political dissent, rapidly becoming a focal point for artists and movements presenting an avant-garde perspective such as The Stars Group. A Wall introduces important contemporary artists to a worldwide audience. The artworks though diverse, all investigate how rapid change has affected Greater China and its environment. Yin Xiuzhen considers the rise of the individual and decline of the collective, Wu Mali explores eco-feminism while Xiong Wenyun, Li Juchuan and Tai Ngai Lung examine the impacts of globalisation, over-development and urbanization. Click this link to view the work: ​A Wall

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About The Artist

Zheng Bo's practice mainly focuses on socially engaged practice. He often works with a diverse range of communities, which has included the Queer Cultural Centre in Beijing and Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong. He also uses a diverse range of materials. Recently he has begun to use plants, conventionally considered weeds, in order to layer his work with political metaphorical symbols, hint at subversion and draw on Chinas rich and complicated history. There is an insidious and critical commentary on social history being played out in Zheng's work that gradually becomes apparent as you begin to understand the intention behind materials and their compositional relation to other objects in works.